Teel Time: UVa has most productive half in a year versus Michigan

During the first 17 minutes of Tuesday’s game against Michigan, Virginia scored 14 points, shot 20 percent from the field and missed 7-of-8 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.

Only the Cavaliers’ defense and foul trouble that benched the No. 14 Wolverines’ best player, Tim Hardaway Jr., kept the contest competitive.

Even when a 10-point burst in the half’s final three minutes gave Virginia a 24-23 lead at the break, no one at John Paul Jones Arena figured coach Tony Bennett’s offense was poised for its best half in a year.

But that’s exactly what transpired after intermission. The Cavaliers shot 50 percent, scored 46 points and committed only two turnovers to win comfortably, 70-58.

That’s more points than Virginia managed in three entire games last season, losses to Boston College, Duke and Maryland.

That’s more points than the Cavaliers have scored in any half since last Nov. 29, when a 58-point second-half carried them to an 87-79 victory at No. 15 Minnesota in this same ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

More evidence of Virginia's precision: Sixteen assists and only eight turnovers for the game. Prior to Tuesday, the Cavaliers had nine more turnovers than assists on the season.

"We were getting some good looks, even early,” Bennett said. “When they'd score, they'd run their 1-3-1 zone, and guys were getting the rhythm looks. You've got to take them and shoot them with confidence. It can be contagious (when) you knock one or two down.”

With Joe Harris (18 points) and Malcolm Brogdon (16) scoring outside, and Mike Scott (18) inside, Virginia showed the balance it often lacked last season when a foot injury shelved Scott.

"He’s a complete player,” Bennett said of Brogdon, a 6-foot-5 freshman. “He’s mature beyond his years.”

But Michigan coach John Beilein said the Cavaliers’ offense started with their seasoned point guards, senior Sammy Zeglinski and junior Jontel Evans, both of whom started.

"I think that a key thing for them right now is when Evans and Zeglinski are in at the same time,” Beilein said. “They are two terrific point guards and they're really hard to defend. With Scott, you have a big man that can score, and it's tough to defend. As far as a combination of system and just playing, maybe Duke is the only one that I would rate with a similar style of success. They're good.”

The Blue Devils’ 22-point loss at Ohio State on Tuesday notwithstanding, that’s high praise. Duke eliminated Michigan from last season’s NCAA tournament and handed the Wolverines their only previous defeat this year, in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.

"I thought we were getting some pretty good looks, we just didn't knock them down,” Zeglinski said of the first half. “But we knew that if we stuck to our defensive principles and kept wearing them down, the shots would eventually fall for us, and that's exactly what happened in the second half.”

Yes, let’s not forget the Cavaliers’ D.

"It's always going to be good as long as that man is coaching this team,” Beilein said. “They do a tremendous job. I'm not crazy about scoring 58 points, but not a lot of teams may score 58 points against them. Thank goodness we made some threes to be able to do that. They're tough to get easy baskets against and when you get them, you can't miss them and we had several of those in the game.”

None of Virginia’s seven opponents has scored more than 58 points, a stark contrast to early last season, when the Cavaliers yielded 81 to Stanford, 106 to Washington, 70 to Wichita State and 79 to Minnesota.

That why this team (6-1) should be much better.

As Harris said of Tuesday’s second half, “I felt like on both ends we were really locked in."